The smash brought the M42 southbound to a standstill between Tamworth and the M6 Toll at 5pm yesterday.

West Midlands Ambulance emergency medical technician John Smallwood, said: "The wreckage from the crash was all over lanes two and three.

"Considering the level of damage to the vehicles and the numbers involved it seems more than fortunate that we only had one patient to deal with. Ten years ago, the situation might have been very different."

Among those to offer help with the only casualty was an off-duty ambulance-woman. A 67-year-old man from Shard End was taken to Heartlands Hospital with a leg injury.

Queues built up as traffic squeezed on to the hard shoulder to get past.